A Magical Encounter
by Photo Nut
Summary: DISCLAMER: I don't own any of the copywritten material referenced within. They aren't mine.
1. Chapter 1

**A Magical Encounter**

It was a boring sort of evening at the Titans Tower. No bad guys breaking out of jail, no trail to follow, nothing. Robin was reading the newspapers, Beast Boy and Cyborg were arguing, as usual, over video games, Raven was reading on the roof, and Starfire was at the mall. For once, everything seemed normal.

Suddenly, the alert klaxons sounded, and the lights flashed red. Robin threw down the paper and ran over to the computer. Cyborg and Beast Boy paused the game and walked over, and Raven appeared out of the ceiling.

The monitor switched to the view from a security camera on a nearby building. There was a woman in black robes, who seemed to be in the process of terrorizing civilians and the police. She had what looked to be a stick, and was emitting from it red and green flashes, both of which caused whoever was unlucky enough to get hit by one to fall to the ground and not move.

Next, she pointed the stick at a police van, uttered something, and the van exploded.

"I've seen enough." said Robin. "Titans, Go!"

At that moment, Starfire came through the door, loaded down with shopping bags. "Friends! I have journeyed to the mall of shopping and have discovered many earthly novelties. I believe you call such things-" She never finished her sentence, as the other Titans flew past her like she was a revolving door.

Grabbing her wrist, Robin pulled her foreword. "Come on-we've got a job to do!"

Downtown, the whole teem was horrified at what they saw. It was a scene from hell. Corpses everywhere, including some dressed in robes similar the woman who now stood before them in an alleyway. She seemed to be busy torturing some innocent bystander. His legs were locked up against his body, and he was screaming bloody murder. She released him.

"Had enough yet, muggle scum?"

All the poor man could do was moan.

"I'll take that as a yes. You bore me. I think I'll just finish you off now and save you the pain of dying the hard way."

"Not if we can help it!" Robin stood at the head of the group, ready to spring into action with his quarterstaff. Starfire swooped down and picked up the man and flew him to safety a few blocks away.

"I think I'm going to be sick." said Beast Boy, nearly tripping over a corpse.

"More muggles? I tire of this game. Surrender now and I'll promise you all nearly painless deaths."

Raven's eyes shone white. "What an offer. I feel a need to reciprocate. Azerath Metreon Zin-"

BANG! A sound similar to that of a car backfiring filled the alley.

"_Impedimenta!" _The woman was blasted out of the alley into the street beyond. Another figure in robes, these dark green, had just appeared before them, its stick now pointed at the group.

"Stay back!" it commanded with a British accent. "This woman is more powerful than you know!" The figure pulled back its hood to reveal the head of a teenager of no more than 16 with blond hair, blue eyes, as well as at the moment a look of pure hatred for the woman he had obviously come to stop.

Starfire, who had by now returned, stood up. "Who are you to command us? For all we know, you are one with her!"

The boy frowned at her. "It's for your own safety. Ignore me at your peril."

She prepared to throw a starbolt, but Raven grasped her arm and pulled her down along with Cyborg, who had charged his sonic cannon and was prepared to fire.

"We are dealing with unknown forces here. Let's watch first before rushing in and hurting ourselves."

"Wise Choice." He then turned and addressed the woman in a calm, almost conversational tone.

"Bella, Bella, Bella. When will you learn? The more you run from the dementors, the happier they are to see you when we return you to them. Besides, coming to America? Now you've gone and violated a whole plethora of immigration laws besides using the unforgivable curses and breaking the international statute of secrecy. I wouldn't be surprised if the Wizengamot condemns you to be kissed when we get you back. Azkaban might be too good for you. And, after what you did to my family, I'm half minded to kill you here."

This "Bella" woman lowered her hood now as well to reveal a sunken face, mad eyes, a twisted smile, and unruly hair. She looked to be in her mid-30's. She shot back a look of hatred to match her opponent's own. "Your parents got what was coming to them, daring to stand up to the Dark Lord. Besides, Wells, you cannot harm me! I was the Dark Lord's most faithful servant. None but him can equal my power!"

"We shall see about that. After all, I've taken care of most of your friends already."

"Heinous crimes for which you shall pay dearly! _Avada Kedavra!_"

A shot of green light emitted from the end of her stick towards the boy. He ducked just in time, and instead the blast carved out a crater in the wall behind him.

"_Stupefy!"_ A shot of red light came out of his directly towards her.

"_Protego!"_ The shot bounced back at him. Again, he ducked in time.

Another green shot came at him, but he rolled away just in time.

"I will make you regret what you did to my companions!" cried Bella in a rage. She aimed her stick, which Raven had deduced was some type of magic wand by now, at the boy again, this time bellowing _"Crucio!"_

The boy was hit by the spell dead on. His legs snapped up to his body and he began screaming in pain. She held him like this for a few seconds, and then released him.

"How'd you like that boy?" she spat. "That's just a sample. I have so much to show you."

The boy, panting, slowly rose to his feet. "You do not scare me, Bellatrix Lestrange. You might have killed all these others, but deep down inside I know that you are but a weak rat, an ignorant fool, incapable of anything but anger, hate and fear. You are a pitiful excuse for a human being, much less a witch."

The woman screamed and sent another jet of green light his way, which he dodged by quite a margin.

"Come on Bella, surely you can do better than that." With that, he disappeared with another loud bang, only to appear seconds later behind her back.

He started chanting out a string of strange incantations, spells, and curses so fast that an auctioneer couldn't understand him. But his wand did, and obeyed its master, sending one blast after the other of red, orange, and blue lights, as well as the occasional pale mist.

She was just as vehement, emitting several green and yellow flashes per second, all of which the boy incredibly dodged.

Finally, the boy cried out _"Tarantallegra!" _The woman's legs suddenly began flaying about violently, causing her to fall to the ground while her legs still kicked, apparently not under her control.

The boy took this opportunity to call out _"Expelliarmus!"_ which made the woman's wand fly from her hand. She began to crawl towards it as fast as she could, considering her unobedient legs, but he was too fast for her. _"Accio Wand!"_ he cried, and her wand flew to his hand, whereupon he promptly broke it in two upon his knee. He turned again to the woman, raised his wand, and said _"Finite"_. Her flaying stopped, but before she could get up and run at him he said calmly _"Petrificus Totalus"_. She went rigid as a board and fell to the ground.

Pointing his wand squarely in her immobile face, the boy said "Bellatrix Lestrange, I hereby place you under the arrest of the Ministry of Magic, concerning your use of unforgivable curses upon other human beings, violations of the international statute of secrecy, colluding with others for the murder of innocents, and," he added somewhat as an afterthought, "violating various immigration laws. You have the right to a lawyer and will be tried by the Wizengamot at a date yet to be appointed. Until then, you will be housed without possibility of bond at Azkaban Prison."

He sighed, wiped sweat from his brow, rose and turned to the group of teenagers behind him, who were all wide-eyed with mouths agape.

"As for you muggles, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to modify your memories so that you'll forget all of this."

Raven was the first to regain her composure, followed by the others.

"No way. I'm not letting you any where near my brain." she said in characteristic monotone, followed by assent of everyone else.

The boy was not up for an argument. "Look, I haven't the time for gutsy muggles. It's standard Ministry procedure. In order to maintain our secrecy, any eyewitnesses to magical happenings must have their memories modified. I'm not going to hurt you, just erase the last half-hour or so from you memories.

Beast boy came foreword, initial shock and awe turning to irritation. "What the hell is a 'muggle'?" he said.

"A non-magical human- normal, in other words."

"Well, we ain't 'normal' people at all. In fact, we're about as far from 'normal' as you can get." said Cyborg.

"And I am not human!" said Starfire loudly.

"Well then, what exactly are you then?" asked the boy.

Beast Boy started first, attempting to impress the newcomer.

"The name's Beast Boy and I'll be any animal you can think of." He then changed into ten different animals. He was followed by Starfire.

"I am a Tamaranian, from a planet far away."

A look of understanding suddenly dawned upon the boy. "You're the 'Teen Titans', right?" Everyone nodded in agreement. "Oh, it's a pleasure to meet you." He then began to eagerly shake all of their hands. "I'm Henry, Henry Wells. I did a paper on you lot for Muggle Studies one year. You're all simply fascinating. Now, let me guess..." he said, then pointing to each of them in turn. "You're Robin, you're Cyborg, you're Starfire, you're Beast Boy, and you're Raven." They nodded. He'd gotten them all. "Well then, that changes everything."

"Why?" asked Robin.

Pointing to Raven, he said "No way am I messing with her head; and," now he pointed to Cyborg "magic and electronics don't exactly mix well. I'd probably do irreparable damage to your systems."

Henry turned around suddenly to see that the spell had worn off and Bellatrix getting up and preparing to run.

"Oh no you don't. _Stupefy!"_ The spell hit her and she collapsed, loosing consciousness.

Turning back to the others, "Look, I'd really love to stay and chat, but I've got to get this slime off to Azkaban, and then I'll have to inform the Ministry of the situation. It'll probably take roundabouts and hour. Is there some place I can meet you later and explain everything?"

"Umm, sure." Began Robin, "Come to our place. We're in the big T-shaped building on the island in the harbor."

"Do you have a fireplace?" asked Henry.

"Yeah. Why?"

"You'll see."

And with that, he grabbed the woman's arm, raised his wand, and disappeared with another loud BANG!

Authors' Note: Well, how'd you like it? It's my first attempt at writing fanfic, so don't be too harsh, but constructive criticism is welcome. This was more of an introduction. If I get encouraging reviews, I'll write more.


	2. A Job Offer

Chapter 2:

**A Job Offer**

"That had to be one of the weirdest things I've ever seen." a still shocked Beast Boy said.

The Titans, unsure of what they had just witnessed, were combing the area for clues.

"I agree." added Starfire. "That experience was most extraordinary."

Cyborg was scouring the area for clues. "Where'd he go? It's like he just came and went out of nowhere."

Raven was puzzled too. "He wouldn't let us help him, even though he was getting hurt pretty badly for a second. That woman didn't look that dangerous to me."

"And what about our fireplace? I mean, why should he care weather we have a fireplace or not?" Robin's brow was furrowed, deep in thought. Looking to the sky, he saw it was about to storm, and decided to call off the search for evidence. "Well, he said he'd be back in about an hour to explain, and it looks like it's gonna rain. Let's go home."

It had begun to rain when the group got back to Titans Tower. Everyone was soaked, except Raven, who had her powers to shield her.

When everyone was dried off back and back in the living room, 45 minutes had passed since Henry had left. 15 to go.

Robin was watching footage of the battle between the woman and Henry that he had recorded, analyzing his moves and techniques. Raven was preoccupied in a thick, ancient-looking book, but everyone else sat blankly, watching the fireplace, not knowing what to expect. It was a modern sort of fireplace in keeping with the rest of the building, round so that you could sit around it. It was seldom used, and had lately been surrounded by Cyborg and Beast Boy's junk.

And so they sat, seemingly forever, each of them with questions for Henry about who he was and where he came from. Cyborg looked at the clock displayed in his arm. It was ten minutes past when Henry said he'd be back.

"He's late."

"Give him some slack. I mean, after all, he's probably very busy and-" Robin never finished his sentence, as just then the fireplace exploded into green flames, sending all the accumulated junk flying around the room, and making the Titans dive for cover.

Then came what shocked them the most, for out of the flames unfurled the figure of Henry Wells, with a couple of big books and what looked to be a long piece of rolled up parchment under his arm. As he stepped forth from the green flames, they flickered and died, leaving no trace that they had ever been there. Surveying the damage around him, he shook his head and raised his wand and flicked it about a bit. All the boxes and loose junk organized themselves and flew back into the corner.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Don't you people know that it's not wise to block up your fireplace? Makes for a terrible mess when people come through."

Robin got up and brushed the soot off of himself. "Umm, well we normally don't expect people to come out of it. You're the first, in fact."

Henry hit his forehead with the palm of his hand. "Duh. Sorry-it's just that I haven't been to a muggle house in a long time, and I forgot how it is with you folk. Should've known better. Anyways, sorry I'm late, but I ran into some trouble at the Ministry. Had to have your fireplace connected to the floo network-most muggle houses aren't. The lady was being very obstinate and refused until I got proper authorization, which needless to say, took longer than I expected."

They stared blankly at him, unable to decode a thing he just said. Noticing this, he motioned towards the table. Now they finally got to have a better look at him. He wore a dark green robe over a white shirt with a tie, had regular pants on, and boots. He was relatively tall, about six foot one, and, though no one but Raven noticed, gave the feeling that there was more than at first meets the eye. But she brushed off this feeling and began to listen.

"Right then, I'll start with that. The floo network is a magical network that connects every fireplace to every other fireplace in the world. As a rule, only the fireplaces in wizarding homes and business places are permanently connected to the network, though the fireplaces of muggle homes and places–like yours-can be connected if the need arises." He pulled a small pouch from his robe. "Of course, you just can't go walking into the flames-you need some floo powder." He took out a pinch of the emerald substance rubbed it between his fingers, causing it to crackle a bit. "You throw some of this into the hearth and say where you want to go, then you step in, and after a few seconds, arrive at your destination. Also, if you don't want to go to your destination, just communicate with whoever may be at the other end, all you have to do is stick your head in the fire, and while the rest of you stays where you are, your head goes to the destination. Quite handy, really."

Robin was very impressed. "Cool. So, you can go anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds?"

"As long as there is a fireplace. Just came from London as a matter of fact." He pulled his wand out of his robes. "To go wherever I want, I can apparate," he raised his wand and BANG!, he vanished into thin air, followed two seconds later by another loud BANG!, when he appeared on the other side of the room. "and disapparate." He sat down again.

"And what is this 'Ministry of Magic' that you keep talking about?" asked Starfire.

"The Ministry of Magic is the government for all the magical people of Great Britain and Ireland. The Minister of Magic is our elected leader, currently a man by the name of Cornelius Fudge. The Ministry handles the governing of all magical peoples, and is separate from the muggle government." He paused and shifted in his seat. "I am employed by the Ministry as an Auror, or a dark wizard catcher. We make sure that the International Statute of Secrecy, which is an international law that keeps muggle and wizarding societies separate, remains unbroken, as well as catching the occasional dark wizard, like you saw earlier."

"Dude, what's it like working for the government?" asked Beast Boy.

"Incredibly boring most of the time. All the other aurors are at least 20 years older than me, and treat me like their lackey, calling me 'water boy'. It's rare that I actually get to go out and fight. Most of it is paper work and forms. I hate it. I'd give _anything_ to have the kind of arrangement you guys have here."

"Really?" said Robin, his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah. You know, I haven't been out with friends in a year? I almost regret going through school so fast. I'm either at work or at home alone, and I can't stand it. I don't know what I'm going to do. I feel like I'm going nuts."

Robin nodded, his brow furrowed in thought.

Now Raven asked a question. "Why didn't you let us help you with that, that, what was her name again?"

"Bellatrix Lestrange?"

"Yeah, her. Why didn't you let us help?"

He leaned forward towards her. "Bellatrix is, or I should say was, very skilled in the dark arts. You remember those green shots she emitted from her wand?"

"Yes"

"Had I or any of you been hit by one of those, I or you would've been killed instantly. And no spell or power can block it. You can only dodge it, which can be quite difficult."

Raven's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"So Raven, you see that I was trying to protect you all from being slaughtered mercilessly. The killing curse is dark magic and is classified as an unforgivable curse, along with the Cruciatus Curse-the one she tortured me with-and the Impirus Curse, which allows the wizard in question to take over a person's mind.

"Wait a second-you can turn people into zombie slaves? Cool!" said Beast Boy, enthralled with his comic-book notions of semi-rotten green people rising from the grave.

Henry's tone was harsh and reprimanding. "Not cool, not cool at all. To use any of those curses upon another human being automatically earns the wizard a lifetime sentence in Azkaban prison, which I can assure you, is not a pretty place to go."

"What's that stick thingy that you use?" asked Cyborg, eying Henry's wand on the table in front of him.

Henry's tone was much warmer again. "That, my friend, is my wand, my most valued possession." He picked up the well-cared for piece of wood and rubbed at it with his robe, causing multi-colored sparks to come out. "Each wand contains at its core some magical substance, be it dragon heartstring, unicorn hair, a phoenix feather, among other things. Mine is made from apple wood with a phoenix feather at its core; they come from all sorts of different trees. Without my wand, I couldn't do nearly as much stuff. It's like an extension of myself. I don't know what I'd do without it."

"So, if someone broke it, you'd be helpless?" he asked.

"No, I could still make potions and do a simple curse or two, but any advanced magic would be out of the question."

Starfire looked as though she had a question, but didn't want to ask it.

"Yes? Did you have a question Starfire?" said Henry.

"Well, forgive me if I sound rude, but how old are you?"

"I'm fifteen, just like all of you."

"Why are you not at your place of schooling then?"

"Well," he pulled at his shirt collar a little. "I don't like to toot my own horn, but I was a little bit ahead of my classmates. They're still in fifth year, with two more to go. I skipped ahead three years."

"Then..." she hesitated again.

"Come on, speak up."

"Then if you're so young, why are you not with your parents?

His face darkened and he looked down. Obviously, this was a painful topic for him.

"If you don't mind, I'd, I'd prefer not to talk about that."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"No no, it's perfectly all right. There's no way you could've known."

Trying to change the subject, Robin interjected. "How'd you know that we're all fifteen?"

He pulled out the long rolled up piece of parchment and untied the ribbon holding it together. It sprang from his grasp and unrolled. It was so long that it was halfway down the adjacent hallway before it stopped. Written on it in neat, cursive script was a heading:

_Muggle Law Enforcement Report_

_Specifically_

_The Teen Titans_

_By_

_Henry Wells_

They were again stunned. Raven gave a monotone "Whoa", the other four sat in shocked silence at the yards of parchment before them.

"I was a tad wordy and over-zealous when it came to school assignments." He said with a grin. "But, as you can see, you're quite famous in the wizarding world. In fact, we know everything about you. We don't know about your personal selves, of course, but we know how you each fight and what your capabilities are. My essay," he motioned to the mile of parchment behind him "details everything."

Beast Boy chimed in with "That might be a little bit of an understatement."

"How'd you figure all that stuff out?" said Cyborg, somewhat alarmed. "I never detected anyone watching us on my sensors, and they can see anyone, even if they're invisible."

"We have our ways. Besides, electronics are easily fooled by magic. Even a simple Disillusionment Charm can fool the most complex muggle methods."

He spent the next two hours our so outlining the wizarding world, entertaining all their questions to the best of their ability, using the books he brought along to provide visual examples. When all their questions were answered, Robin looked at his team with questioning glances. Throughout the entire conversation, he'd been going through the battle in his head. He was contemplating weather or not to ask Henry to join the team. The others looked back at him with looks of approval, and Raven gave a small nod. Henry just sat there, twiddling his thumbs and looking up at the ceiling.

"Could you excuse all of us for a minute please? We need to talk some things over." Said Robin.

"Of course. Don't let me keep you." He got up and moved aside so the others could get out of their seats. They disappeared into another room down the hall. Robin started talking first.

"He's good. Very good. He'd be a great addition to the team. Should I ask him to join, or what?"

Raven spoke up. "I did not detect any lying at all, though he hides much pain. I think Starfire touched a nerve when she asked about his parents.

"Indeed-he seemed quite distressed." Said Starfire.

"But we've all had terrible things happen to us in the past. We can't judge him on that." Said Cyborg.

"He's smart, too. He knows an awful lot about what he's talking about. We could use someone with a broad knowledge base." Raven said.

Beast Boy started jabbering. "Yeah, but I mean Henry Wells? That has to be the lamest name I've ever heard."

Cyborg smacked him across the face. "OK **Garfield**. Like your name is so much better than his."

Beast Boy's face went red, making him look like a Christmas tree. "Dude, nobody calls me Garfield. I'm Beast Boy; no one even knows Garfield's my name. How'd _you_ find out anyway?"

Cyborg just whistled and looked up at the ceiling.

"But what about his job?" asked Robin, ignoring his teammates.

Raven spoke again. "Well, he says he wants to get away from it and that he'd love to be part of a team like us. I'm sure that there's some way he could get out of it, if he really wants to."

"Why do we not invite him to train with us tomorrow? If he passes the obstacle course a certain amount of time, then he is a member of the team."

"Good idea Starfire. Let's see what he can do against the kind of enemies we face." Robin then opened the door and walked out.

When they got back to the common room, Henry was intently examining the under-used and heavily neglected dishwasher. He had his head inside of it. Raven cleared her throat.

"Ahem."

Henry jumped, banging his head. "Ouch!" he muttered, and pulled his head out, covered with cobwebs, and blushed at the raised eyebrows that the team was giving him, "Fascinating machine." was all he said before shutting the door and hastily combing back from behind the counter. "Sorry, I've never seen anything like that before."

"You've never seen a dishwasher in your life?" asked Cyborg in an incredulous tone. "You've got to be joking."

"Is that what it does? It washes dishes? We have no need for such a contraption. All we do is" he raised his wand to a particularly old and mold covered dish sitting by the also neglected and under-used sink, _"Scourgify!"_ The dish was wiped clean and shiny with no trace of dirt whatsoever.

"Um, yeah, anyways, we were consi-" began Robin, but he was cut of by Starfire, who ran forward and was jumping up and down with excitement.

"We want you to join our team! All you have to do is pass a test and you're in!"

"Now it's you who's joking. I mean, you can't be serious, can you?"

"Dead serious." Said Raven "We think you'd make a great addition to the team. All you have to do is beat our obstacle course under a certain time."

Henry looked somewhat uncomfortable, like he was dreading something.

"Hey dude, if you don't want to join, then that's fine. You don't have to if you don't want to." Said Beast Boy.

"No no, I was just thinking of all the paperwork this is going to cause." He frowned, and then smiled. "But nevertheless, this is too great an offer to pass up. When do I take my test?"

"Tomorrow would be great." Said Robin.

"It's a deal then. I'll meet you guys here at say, three o'clock?"

"Sounds good to me. See you there."

"Splendid. See you all later then." He said as he walked over to the fireplace, threw some floo powder in, and said very clearly "Number 88, Hawthorn Drive!" stepped into the emerald flames, and was gone.

The team, all full of excitement pending the possible addition of a new teammate, went to bed, eagerly anticipating the next day's events.

(A/N) How'd you like this chapter? I've got more ideas if I get positive reviews. You'll still have to wait for the pairings, but again, I have some good ideas. I hope to start relationships next chapter. I need fuel from reviews!


	3. Chapter 3: The Test

_Author's Note: Sorry this took so long-I had a major episode of writers block for a while. O.K., I know that the last chapter was pretty boring. In this chapter, I'll attempt to make it more interesting, and add an intsy-teensy clue to my long-thought-out-but-by-no-means-complete-in-my-head relationship. See if you can guess who my character will start liking. _

_And now, on with the story!_

**Chapter 3: The Test**

It was exactly 3 p.m. the next day when Henry Wells stepped through the fireplace into Titans Tower. He had with him his wand (of course), his broom (just a cleansweep 8-he'd bought it used but in nonetheless good condition), and a paper for his new friends to sign that would allow him to stay-he'd worked out a nice arrangement with the Minister. He was surprised, however, to walk into an empty room. It was quiet as a tomb, and some red lights were gently flashing on and off. Everyone was gone. So, Henry went looking for them.

"Hello? Is anybody home?" he called throughout the entire building, but to no avail. He decided to go outside. He wandered around for a while before finding the entrance hall. However, he couldn't get out, as the doors were locked tight. He looked over to the electronic display, but you may as well asked him to read hieroglyphics than figure out what to do with it. Pulling out his wand, Henry sighed and said _"Alohomora"_. The doors glowed golden for a second, then opened.

Henry walked out onto the island. The view of the city was amazing, and there was a fresh sea breeze blowing in from the ocean. Suddenly, he heard a loud crash from within the city. A large cloud of dust rose on the horizon. Deciding to investigate, Henry mounted his broom and kicked off.

Robin motioned for Starfire to drop him onto Cinderblock's shoulders with a flick of his wrist, landing with the grace of a cat and proceeding to hit him violently upside the head with his quarterstaff many times. Momentarily dazed, Cinderblock quickly recovered and threw Robin down to the ground, and was about to stomp on him when a flurry of green starbolts hit him hard in the back. Yelling with rage, Cinderblock turned and started swatting at Starfire as though she were a fly. She was too quick for him though, and continued to shoot beams of energy out of her eyes as she dodged his clumsy blows. Explosive bird-a-rangs hit his ankles, causing the big boulder to jump up and down in pain, in turn making surrounding buildings sway precariously. The two of them were making slow but steady progress. Down the street, however, it was a different story.

Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy were busy battling Plasmus. Raven was hurling city buses, cars, stoplights, and just about anything else she could think of into the great purple blob of ooze. Unfortunately, however, Plasmus either made holes in himself so that the object passed right through, or it just dissolved in his acidic slime.

Beast Boy morphed into a triceratops and charged Plasmus, but he shot out coils of slime, wrapping himself around Beast Boy's torso. He then threw him three blocks; Beast Boy's yell slowly fading into the distance.

Cyborg was shooting his sonic cannon rapidly at the monster, but all he succeeded in doing was burning the sludge so that it created the most nauseating smell. Finally, he hit one of Plasmus' eyes, making it burst. The monster gave an earsplitting screech, making Raven loose her concentration and drop the stretch limo she was preparing to throw five stories to the ground. Cyborg was showered in green goop. "Eewww!" he shouted while trying to get the muck off himself before it ate into his circuits.

Raven still had her eyes squinted shut and was wiggling her little finger in her ear, trying to get the ringing out so she could concentrate. She looked up for a moment, and saw to her horror that Plasmus' arms were rapidly shooting out towards her. She tried to fly out of the way, but it was too late. He grabbed her with his slimy hands, and licked his lips with his oozing purple tongue. He was about to devour her. _"Not if I have any say in the matter!" _thought Raven. Regaining concentration, her eyes glowed white, and began to say her magic words.

"_Azerath, Metreon, Zin-"_ she was cut off by two cries of _"Diffindo!" _in quick succession. The arm of the creature had been cut, and Plasmus again shrieked in pain. She was falling to the ground that was less than two stories below. She squinted and braced for impact. Suddenly, she was grabbed round the waist and pulled from the purple mass. Opening her eyes, she saw that she was being carried by a figure in a dark green robe with blond hair. He was flying somewhat erratically, trying to hold her in one hand, and control the broom and hold his wand with the other. She scowled and said "Let go of me." flatly, yet threateningly.

Not looking at her for fear of loosing control of the unbalanced broomstick, he said incredulously "Have you lost your marbles? This is a ten-story drop! You'd fall to your dea-"

She cut him off, her voice now dangerously commanding.

"I can fly, remember? Now drop me!"

"Oh, er, right." He said, realizing how he was holding her, and blushing slightly. "As you wish." He released her, and she flew back towards the monster to launch another attack. Henry, however, just sat on his broom, trying to decide what spell to use. _'A basic stunning spell would obviously have no effect-it's too big-burn it maybe? No the toxic fumes would kill everyone in the city. How's about an explosion?'_

"Hey! You up there! Make yourself useful and help us!" shouted Cyborg, while retreating down the street.

"Oh alright alright! Don't get your panties in a bunch!" he shouted back. Settling on the spell he had in his head at that moment, he started to twirl his wand around his head, like a cowboy with a lasso, faster and faster, until small white flashes began to pop with every revolution. Soon, it was a continuous white ring, like a halo, around his head.

"_Delendo!" _(A/N: Latin for "I destroy", I think) he cried out as he cast his wand and left hand out in front of him at the same time, and a huge blast of white light came out of his wand, blinding all four of them. There was another deafening screech, a loud explosion, and when they regained their sight, they were covered in purple gloop, along with the whole of the city block, from the sewer drains to the tops of the skyscrapers.

"Disgusting. I am so going to need a shower when we get back." Said Raven in monotone, while picking a particularly large blob out of her hair.

"You'll need a shower?" said Beast Boy, who had by now returned, "Look at me! I'll be smelling this stuff for a week!" indeed, he was positively covered in the goo to the point that you could not see where he was speaking from.

"Get it off! Get it off!" shouted Cyborg, while dancing around in a frenzy trying to remove all the goo before it damaged him.

Henry lifted the sleeve of his robe, and looked at where the acidic gooze had burnt holes through the fabric. "Interesting" he muttered as he landed and dismounted his broom. Then, he took it off, held it at arms length, and said _"Scorgify-reparo." _His robe was wiped clean of the ooze and the threads re-wove themselves in an instant. He then looked to the other three-Raven, who was picking at her hair, Cyborg, who was still dancing, and Beast Boy, who was struggling to escape from the suffocating mass of purple goop. He waved his wand, and the stuff disappeared.

"Uh, thanks" said Cyborg looking at his mechanical palms, wondering where it had all gone.

"Don't mention it" said Henry as he tucked his wand away in his robe.

"What happened here?" said Robin, who rounded the corner with Starfire in tow, and was stopped dead in his tracks by the scale of the mess in front of him.

"The Delendere Spell" said Henry, leaning against his broom. "We were being beaten pretty badly, and I decided to put a stop to it."

"I'll say." Said Robin, still gazing upwards at the sheer volume of gooze. "So, how about we let the city clean up this mess and go for pizza. The police have Cinderblock."

"I'm in." said Beast Boy and Cyborg together. Then turning to each other, they began yelling in each others' faces.

"Meat lovers!"

"Vegetarian deluxe!"

"No fake crap! I want sausage."

"Well why don't you cook me while you're at it, tin man!"

"You'd look better oven roasted, grass stain!"

They traded insults with such fury that Starfire was afraid it would get physical, and felt the need to step in to stop them.

"Friends! Such combativeness cannot continue between you! You must cease such behavior immediately or you will begin to drift apart!" she sounded genuinely worried, but the two of them just ignored her.

"And that means I don't like your stinkin' Tofu either!"

"Well, you couldn't have made it any more obvious! And don't even get me started on how many animals are killed because of your appetite man!"

Henry leaned over to Robin. "Are they always like this?"

"You should see them when it comes to video games. This is nothing." He then walked up to Starfire and pulled her back from holding the two, letting them continue to make offensive gestures to each other and yell in each others' face.

Robin and Starfire walked away towards the pizza restaurant, Raven followed, muttering "morons" beneath her breath. Henry just sighed, mounted his broom again, and followed the other three at a walking pace, leaving Cyborg and Beast Boy alone in the middle of the ooze-covered street. When they realized they were alone, however, they chased after the others.

"Finished being immature babies yet?" said Raven when the two of them caught up to the group.

"Well it's not my fault that he has to have his disgusting tofu garbage!"

"Dude! It's not garbage! It's healthy, and it tastes great."

"Tastes great my hat! That has to be some of the vilest stuff I've ever put in my mouth."

They descended into squabbles again. That was it. Henry had had enough. He pulled out his wand and raised it to them. When they saw this everyone stopped dead. Quick as a flash Raven projected a screen of black energy in front of the two, who had stopped fighting and were looking at Henry incredulously. Starfire gasped and said "What are you doing, friend Henry?!"

"What are you all looking at me like that for? All I was going to do is shut these two six year olds up with a silencer curse." He scanned their faces realized what they were thinking, and dropped his wand to his side. "Oh my. You thought, you thought that I was going to hurt them, didn't you?"

"We don't entirely trust you yet." Explained Robin. "We've been betrayed before, and don't want it to happen again."

"Er, sorry, then" he said as he put his wand slowly back into his robes. "So, er, how about that pizza?" he said tentatively.

After a conversation with the press, two regular pizzas, one piled with sausage and pepperoni, one pale white tofu pizza, and plenty of soda, the group returned to the island. Robin went over to the obstacle course control console, aided by Cyborg. The other three just watched. Henry straddled his broom on the starting point, wand out, and ready to kick off.

"You have five minutes to complete the course." Said Robin "3...2...1...go."

There was a loud "boop!", and Henry kicked off the ground and sped onto the course.

First, a dozen machine guns popped out of the ground and began spewing bullets at him. With one cry of _"Protego!" _however, they reversed on themselves and shredded the guns to bits.

Next, there was a long series of doors, all open. _'This is too easy.' _Henry thought as he flew over the barren rocks towards the doors, at a brisk but not exactly fast pace. Then, just as he was going under it, the door began to close rapidly. He flew out of the way just in time as it went crashing into the dust behind him. It was like a domino effect, the first door having triggered the closings of all the others. He leaned low on his broomstick, determined to get every last ounce of speed that the old thing could offer. But it was not enough. He had cleared four of the five doors, when Robin tapped a command into the panel. "Let's see how fast he gets on without flying" he said.

Henry was almost out of the way of the fifth door, but not quite. The door slammed down faster than the others due to Robin's intervention, taking the rear end of the broom (and therefore Henry) with it. It cleanly cut the broom right behind Henry's rear, chopping off all the bristles, making it worthless as a flying machine.

Henry tossed the remaining part of the handle away, swore, made sure his butt was still there, and took the time to shake his fist at Robin and Cyborg, who merely smirked. He then ran into the final four parts of the course.

More gun-like canons reared up seemingly out of nowhere. Henry prepared to cast another shield charm, but was caught offguard when flames instead erupted towards him.

"_Aquos Projectalis!" _he cried at the last second, the flames barely a yard from his face, and a torrent of water erupted from the end of his wand and pushed the flames back. The flame-throwers charged for another shot, but Henry was too quick, sending stunning spells into each one. They smoked a bit and drooped, overloaded by the magic.

Continuing on at a full run, he noticed two slots open up in the rock face. Two dozen robotic flying drones came whizzing out towards him, and when they were within range in all of about three seconds, began to fire energy-bolts at him.

'_Let's try a little transfiguration.'_ Henry thought to himself. He cast a shield charm that reversed the fire of the first dozen or so of them, but they dodged the shots.

'_Uh-oh'_ Henry thought as they opened fire again. With one more quick call of _"Protego!"_, he dove behind a boulder, feeling it shudder from the impact of the energy pulses. As each of the drones flew overhead, he waved his wand, turning it into a harmless fly. Peeking around the corner to make sure that there were no more of them waiting for him, he stood and began running again.

He came to a small, flat place on a cliff overlooking the bay. Just as he was about to run through, doors opened in the ground, and a small army of androids rose to the surface. Their heads snapped up as they were activated by Cyborg, pulled their weapons, and were about to fire when Henry cried _"Stupefy!"_, blowing the arm off one and deactivating it. Henry could now see that wires, servos, and tubes were what made the things up. _'Ah! They are electric!' _he thought, and was about to cast a spell to get rid of them, when they opened fire. Dissaperating with a BANG!, he apperated behind them. As they turned to fire on him, he shouted _"Dynamo Electrosis!"_. A fork of lightning shot from the tip of his wand, first hitting one of the robots, and then arcing to each of the others. Some robots' heads were blown off, others lost all their limbs, and still others just fell to the ground. All of them were broken. Henry, for his part, had all of his hair standing on end.

Now he came to a round clearing. Beyond this, he could see the finish line. _'It's too easy.' _He thought to himself as he edged slowly into the area, wand out and ready for anything. Suddenly, the earth shook, and another door opened in the earth. A massive, one-eyed robot with five arms, three legs, and a squarish body rose to the surface. The eye seemed to be getting brighter, and at the last minute Henry realized it was a weapon, and cast a shield charm just as the beam erupted from the machine. The blast was so intense it overwhelmed the magic, knocking Henry off his feet. Scrambling to his feat, he just managed to get out of the way before one of the mechanical feet plowed into the earth not 6 inches from him. He cast a flurry of stunning spells, but they just bounced off of it. _'He's difficult for a muggle contraption.'_ Thought Henry as he dodged another blast. This continued for a minute or so, neither of them getting an edge.

"_Dynamo Electrosis!" _he called. The robot went limp for a second from the shock, but then came back on line. It started attacking again, though this time they were less well coordinated, and clumsier.

"Dammit, he fried out the video monitors and the remote control system." Said Cyborg, who had been feverishly controlling the robot from the command station for the past minute or so. His video game skills made him really good at this part of the test, especially considering it was he that built the robot, and Robin let him take over. "Nothing left to do but put it into auto mode. I swear, he'll be in for it if he bangs up my baby too badly."

"Look!" shouted Robin while pointing to the battle. Henry, eyes screwed up in concentration, had his wand out in front of him and had lifted the robot off the ground. Then he jerked his wand up and down, slamming the robot into the ground again and again.

"My baby! Oh no!" exclaimed Cyborg, pulling at his face.

Henry released the robot, letting it crash to the ground again. He was surprised when it made a feeble attempt to stand up again. _'That's it! I'm done with this thing!' _he thought, and began to twirl his wand above his head, white flashes beginning to pop. The thing's eye began to glow...

There was another blinding white flash, and as Cyborg opened his eyes, a piece of circuit board came shooting out of the sky and wedged itself in the control panel, not three inches from his hand.

"My baby..." was all he could say.

When the dust cleared, Henry saw the large scorch mark left on the earth where the spell had hit the robot. Gears, wires, and hydraulic fluid were raining from the sky. Then, he heard two short beeps announcing that he only had ten seconds left. Sprinting, he crossed the finish line just in time. He collapsed to his knees, panting. Most of it had been easy, but that last part was difficult as hell! The levitation spell especially took a lot out of him, the concentration needed to lift something that big. Plus, it was four o'clock, and his body, still on British time, was telling him that it was about 10. He tried to wipe the sweat from his forehead, but winced when his robe touched his skin. The damn machine had burned him. Ah well, nothing a potion couldn't fix.

He looked up to see the group of them coming down from the control console, Cyborg looking very agitated. He pulled himself to his feet, and put his wand away. His robes were dirty, but he paid it no notice. As he approached, Robin pulled out something small, yellow, and circular and put it in Henry's hand. It was yellow, with a black cover, and a "T" on it. It beeped a catchy-sounding tune. Robin then spoke.

"Welcome to the team."


End file.
